Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 53 of 54

The broadcast bell still rang as Kawaii Princess turned back to her pillar. The shack stood empty now, but the cracked notice board lay face-up on the ice, its red warning stamp still bright. A faint dark smudge ran along the base of her pink crystal, where the false notice had been pressed and torn away. Viewers tuning in would see that smear first, not her symbol. She knelt and scrubbed the smudge with the hem of her glove. The ink only spread. Across the field, her rival's new flagpole rose sharp against the sky, silk banner frozen at the edges, orange and pink burning in the light. Cameras swung toward it. Kawaii Princess had seconds, not minutes. She picked up the cracked notice board and pressed it hard against the smudge, then dragged it down. The board shattered. Ice flakes fell away, and the smudge came with them, peeled off in one long strip. The pillar shone clean. She lifted the carved hearts into the light, and the crystal caught it, throwing a princess shape across the polished stone behind her, crown and folded hands and all. The head scout raised his glove. The broadcast camera swung from the rival's frozen banner back to her restored pillar. Kawaii Princess stood beside her clean symbol as the bell's last note faded. The stage was hers again, on air, in time.